September 1, 2012
Tailor-Made
Cecilie Manz creates an understated formal chair meant for informal meetings.
HEIGHT
27.60 inches
WIDTH
24.80 inches
DEPTH
22.00 inches
The award-winning Danish designer Cecilie Manz has just completed her second collaboration with Fritz Hansen after the solid-wood Essay table that she designed for them in 2009. Her latest creations, an uncomplicated yet sophisticated chair and accompanying table that made their North American debut last May at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, came out of a series of workshops between the designer and the company. There was no brief or creative constraint, only an exploration of material. “For me, design always starts with the material. I need to have all the materials in my hand before I can feel if they are something I can work with,” Manz says. She spent two years working with the manufacturer to create the Minuscule chair, so named because its design is so understated. Here, Manz explains some of the details of her simple chair.